Is there a philosophical point of view to the use of of marijuana? How would a philosopher think about smoking marijuana?

October 10, 2013

Response from Andrew Pessin on November 1, 2013

interesting question -- but why would a philosopher think any differently on this subject than anyone else? are you asking whether pot smoking should be legal? then it's a public health issue, a privacy issue, etc., and then lots of experts can weigh in from all sorts of perspectives (with partly philosophical positions, but not necessarily 'professional philosophers'' philosophical positions ...) are you asking whether it's good to smoke pot? does a good life include it? then we do get to standard philosophical questions, but then there wouldn't be "a" philosopher's way of thinking about it, there would be the usual debates about different conceptions of ethics. of course, no doubt, some people become philosophers partly as a result of their pot-smoking experiences, which no doubt would subsequently inform their philosophial opinions -- about many things, including about pot smoking.

anyway, this may not have been particularly useful, but perhaps it's a start! ...

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